Markets Wired

Following a 15-day public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved an application from Sycamore Partners II, L.P. to sell to Dollar General Corporation the assets it acquired under a 2015 FTC settlement.

To resolve concerns that Dollar Tree, Inc.’s acquisition of Family Dollar Stores, Inc. would be anticompetitive, the Commission required Dollar Tree to divest 330 Family Dollar stores.  Dollar Tree selected Sycamore as the buyer, which the Commission approved. Dollar Express LLC, the company Sycamore formed to operate the divested stores, has entered into an agreement to sell the 323 Family Dollar stores it currently operates to Dollar General, subject to FTC approval. As part of the 2015 settlement, the Commission required Sycamore to obtain FTC approval if it chose to sell all or almost all the assets it acquired within three years of the acquisition.

Sycamore requested a shortening of the FTC 30-day public comment period on its sale of Dollar Express assets to Dollar General to allow Dollar Express to fulfill the majority of its commitments, including those made to approximately, 3,000 employees. Sycamore stated in its application that Dollar Express LLC, “can no longer operate as a viable standalone business,” due to changes in competitive conditions since the purchase.

The Commission vote approving the application and responses to commenters was 2-0. (FTC File No. 141 0207; the staff contact is Dan Ducore, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2526.)

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